welcome to nhk world "newsline," i'm gene otani in tokyo. here is a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. ncht supporters of ousted egyptian president mohamed morsi reject a timetable for new elections imposed by the interim leader. >> investigators are speaking with survivors as they try to figure out what caused a plane to crash in san francisco.

>> and trade on the table as politicians in japan campaign for the upper house election. voters weigh-in on the pros and cons of joining the transpacific partnership. supporters of egypt's ousted president are planning to hold new elections. they want mohamed morsi reinstated. and many of them say they won't rest until he's back in power. members of morsi's power base, muslim brotherhood, demonstrated near the palace in cairo. they deposed a decree issued by adly mansour. a parliamentary election would follow next year and then a presidential election. >> translator: i will continue to protest with everyone. >> translator: what the military is trying to do is meaningless. mr. morsi will regain power.

>> egypt's military forced the president out of office after he failed to resolve a political deadlock that sent millions of protesters into the streets. violence on monday left more than 50 people dead. it's the highest number since morsi was removed from power. investigators are piecing together the moments before a plane crash landed in san francisco. two chinese high school girls died when the asiana airlines passenger jet went down at the city's international airport. the head of the national transportation safety board, deborah hersman, said the jet was going too slowly to land. it was going about 190 kilometers per hour just before making contact with the ground. the target speed for landing is about 250 kilometers per hour. she said the pilots were trying to pick up speed to make another attempt at landing. a u.s. television network aired

footage of passengers escaping from the wreckage of the airliner. the footage shows people using two escape chutes on the left side of the aircraft. black smoke is pouring from the fuselage as they flee. the cabin attendant said it seemed like the plane was trying to climb at the moment of impact. >> translator: it felt like we were taking off again when there was a huge crash. then i felt another jolt and the plane swayed strongly from the left to the right. >> she said a fire broke out as the crew was trying to evacuate the passengers and that she escaped after making sure everyone else was off the plane. investigators in eastern canada are getting a closer look at parts of a town where a runaway train exploded. the unmanned train was carrying crude oil. it rolled downhill in the early hours of saturday morning then jumped the tracks and blew up.

13 people are confirmed dead. more than 40 are still unaccounted for. nhk world reports. >> reporter: the accident took place in lac-megantic near the u.s./canada border. the train had 72 cars full of crude oil. the explosion destroyed more than 30 buildings in the town's center. they included a popular live music venue that was full of people when the explosion occurred. these are the tracks where the oil carrying trains carry at high speed carrying towards the town where we can still see the tankers burning for two days that left many without a home and others are still missing. one-third of the town's 6,000 residents were forced to leave their homes.

>> translator: the whole town is in a state of mourning. >> translator: it will be a long time before life returns to normal. >> reporter: the driverless train was parked in the neighboring town. the car somehow became disengaged from the locomotive and started rolling downhill. they traveled for ten kilometers before racing into lac-megantic at high speed. officials with the train's operator say their initial inquiry has shown no evidence of negligence. investigators say it will be some time before they determine exactly what happened. >> everything's going to be investigated. you have a lot of investigators and major crimes unit on the scene. we have a lot of specialized investigators on the scene and everything is going to be looked at.

>> rail and other overland routs are becoming an increasingly common way of transporting oil in north america, but the accident here has caused some people to question just how safe it is. nhk world, lac-megantic, canada. american fugitive edward snowden is making progress in his bid to win political asylum and avoid prosecution for exposing that a secret u.s. surveillance programs. venezuela president nicolas maduro says his government received a request from the former government contractor. >> translator: we received an application letter for asylum. if he definitely wants to fly here, he'll need to decide when. >> snowden did contract work for the national security agency. he disclosed documents that show nsa agents collect phone and internet data at home and

abroad. american authorities want him on espionage charges. snowden is reportedly holed up inside a moscow airport. u.s. officials have revoked his passport. they've asked countries not to help him escape prosecution. aside from venezuela, the leaders of bolivia and nicaragua have offered snowden asylum. anything rag wa officials announced on saturday he submitted an application to their embassy in moscow. snowden says other countries benefit from the u.s. surveillance programs. he says shares the intelligence with spy agencies in europe. snowden made the claims in an interview with the german magazine. the magazine reporters interviewed him in may before he disclosed the surveillance programs, they used coded e-mails to communicate. snowden says u.s. intelligence officers helped german agent ts analyze data passing through germany. he says u.s. and german agents also discussed how to protect

politicians if the public found out. european leaders claim they were not aware of the extent of u.s. intelligence gathering. snowden's revelations also caught chinese authorities off guard and put a strain on relations with their u.s. counterparts. he revealed american agents hacked computers in china. the disclosure is expected to complicate upcoming bilateral talks. foreign and economic ministers from the u.s. and china will meet on wednesday in washington for two days of discussions. a senior american official says cyber security is a key item on the agenda. u.s. leaders have accused the chinese government of being involved in online attacks aimed at stealing sensitive information from american businesses and public institutions. chinese officials are expected to make use of snowden's allegations and ask the obama administration to explain its own cyber activities.

members of japan's maritime self-defense forces will have an extended call of duty off somalia. japanese leaders have added one year to their anti-piracy mission. commanders currently contribute two destroyers and two patrol aircraft to international forces policing the area, but they were due to come home this month. cabinet members on tuesday voted for the extension. they said the situation remains unpredictable despite a decrease in pirate attacks. commanders will provide one destroyer to the multinational force on the request of other powers. japanese leaders confirm the self-defense forces are permitted to undertake the action. they say the mission in somalia is not a military but a policing activity. defense officials in tokyo have been monitoring chinese ships. and they're concerned by what they see. they say authorities in beijing have ramped up their activity around japanese controlled islands in the east china sea.

their white paper on defense policy says chinese vessels have repeatedly entered japanese waters around the senkaku islands. china and taiwan both claim the territory. the report says some ships behaved so dangerously they could have caused emergencies. it says china's expanding maritime activity is a regional and international threat. the chinese government spokesperson dismissed the white paper's findings. >> translator: some of the assessments in japan's report are not based on fact. china has been conducting normal maritime activities in line with domestic and international law. >> the spokesperson added the japanese government has recently been triggering regional tension and confrontation by overstating the threat posed by china. officials at the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant say they've made a troubling discovery. workers have detected a surge in the amount of radioactive cesium in a well at the facility in

recent days. tokyo electric power company officials regularly monitor ground water around the reactor buildings. they check for radioactive substances and analyze their effect on the environment. on monday workers found 9,000 becquerels of cesium, 134 per liter of water in an observation well and 18,000 becquerels of cesium, 137. the well is located between the number 2 reactor and the ocean. the amounts were about 90 times higher than on friday. tepco officials say they can't explain the sudden jump. they also are unsure how the cesium is affecting the ocean. workers have detected increasing amounts of radioactive substances in sea water near the plant since may. a sample taken last week contained the highest concentration of radactive tritium recorded in more than

two years. politicians in japan have been crisscrossing the nation selling their platforms ahead of this month's upper house election. for voters, it's a chance to weigh-in on prime minister shinzo abe's first six months in office. abe is trying to consolidate his power. he and his liberal democratic party control the lower house, but opposition parties hold the majority of seats in the upper house. and that's created a divided diet where passing legislation can be tricky. in the days leading up to when japan decides, we'll will booking at some of the key campaign issues and hearing from voters about what matters to them. candidates from these nine parties are running in the election. these groups qualified for political party status. they include long-established parties and others that were recently founded. several groups that failed to meet the standards are still

fielding candidates. in all 433 candidates including independents running in this election. and they'll be talking about a number of different issues during the campaign. one that's come up again and again is the tpp or transpacific partnership, a free-trade agreement. prime minister shinzo abe pushed for japan to join negotiations after he took office. he won the approval of all participating nations in april. >> translator: it's our last chance. if we miss it, we'll be shut out of the establishment of global standards. >> nhk world tells us more about the tpp and why the prime minister wanted to get japan on board. >> delegates from the u.s. and ten other pacific nations are involved in the tpp talks. they want to free up trade in 21

areas including the nation of all tariffs. if agreed, could account for one-third of economic output. japanese leaders have been left behind and they've watched other nations into various partnerships. south korea has concluded agreements with the eu and the u.s. japan is trying to catch up and start many negotiations. in march with china and south kor korea. in april with the eu. and in may japanese officials began talks on the regional comprehensive economic partnership which includes asean and five other countries. japanese are focusing on free trade for a number of reasons. the domestic parkt is expected

to shrink because of the declining birthrate and growing number of elderly. the rise in cheaper imports is expected to increase in consumption. and japanese companies need to be more globally competitive. government officials say the trade agreements will pay off. they project joining the tpp alone will boost real gdp $32 billion a year. japan takes part in the tpp talks later this month. the nations involved plan to reach an agreement by the end of the year. >> now, just because japanese negotiators are joining the tpp discussions, it doesn't mean everyone in this country supports the free trade deal. our keiko aso looks at opinions. >> this company produces

precision parts for automobiles including fuel injection devices. it's number one foreign market is the united states. the president says the tpp could help increase abroad where demand for vehicles is expected to grow. >> translator: we have to watch not just the domestic market with a population of 120 million, but the global market of 7 billion. >> reporter: he says tearing down barriers will help his company better compete against rivals in europe and south korea. >> translator: our technical abilities and the quality of our products are very high. we can beat the competition if we can offer goods with better prices. >> reporter: many sent overseas

from japan are subject to tariffs. for example, automotive products over the tpp nations more than $2 billion a year. business leaders are welcoming the government's decision to join the tpp talks. >> translator: the government should show strong leadership in the discussions. but some see the tpp as a threat including japan's former association. members say report to duty and the types of added products would allow cheap imports to flood the market. they argue the agriculture sector would collapse. >> translator: we cannot allow the government to make the decision to join the talks without a full national debate.

>> reporter: this man has been farming for more than four centurie centuries. they want to be able to maintain tariffs on some agriculture products. but he's skeptical they'll get their way. >> translator: the government has not disclosed information to us. i think nobody knows what the tpp will really mean. >> mashiko says it's difficult for japanese farmers to further improve productivity because most farmland is small in scale and not a geographic suitable to consolidate. he argues they cannot compete with large scale farmers in countries such as australia who have lower production costs.

>> translator: many japanese farmers are already hard up. cheap imports could drive us to stop farming because we would not be able to make ends meet. even if we persist, we would only be piling up losses. >> reporter: the tpp negotiations will be unlike any free trade talks japan has been involved in before. the agreements reach over a wide range of sectors would affect different people in different ways. keiko aso, nhk world, tokyo. political parties in japan are divided on joining the tpp. even the ruling liberal democrats are not necessarily united. some ldp members worry about losing support from farmers, one of the party's major backers. we'll be looking at a number of stories and issue ahead of the upper house election our coverage continues on wednesday we'll be speaking to survivors

of the 2011 disaster to find out what they'll be thinking about before they cast ballots. prime minister shinzo abe has worked to reshape japan's economy and get to grow. now he's setting his sights on amending the constitution, but his party must make a strong showing in this month's upper house election so it can push its policy forward. less than a year after putting abe in power, japanese voters have a chance to judge him on his record. don't miss our special coverage leading up to the july 21st election right here on "newsline." consumer prices in china remain relatively stable. the nation's consumer price index has stayed in the 2% range for a fourth month in a row. the national bureau of statistics said on tuesday the cpi in june rose by 2.7% from the same month last year. this gain is prices of food items such as vegetables and

gains jumped nearly 5% from the year early. the consumer inflation remains below the government's target of no more than 3.5% for the year. meanwhile, the bureau said the producer price index fell 2.7% compared to the previous year. the pace of decline moderated by .2% in may but stayed in negative territory for a 16th straight month indicating a slowing economy. u.s. government officials say the country's economy will grow more slowly this year than they had expected. they have lowered their growth outlook mainly blaming automatic across the board fiscal spending cuts enacted in march. white house officials say they now expect gdp to expand 2% this year. that's down 0.3% from an estimate in april. officials also cite economic headwinds from europe and a slowdown in emerging economies including china. despite the downward revision, officials predict that the u.s. economy will continue its

moderate improvement. they forecast that the jobless rate will drop to 7.3% in the fourth quarter this year from the current 7.6%. they have also slashed their estimate of the budget deficit for this fiscal year by $214 billion to $759 billion. here are the latest market figures. there's a strong typhoon on

the way to southern okinawa, japan. rch r rachel ferguson is here with that. >> we've been tracking this system as it heads west towards okinawa. this is it right now. you can see that eye being quite clearly defined in the cloud just there. so this is actually a pretty strong storm and it is building in strength as well. it's already what we call a strong typhoon here in the west pacific, maybe if you are more used to the south hurricane scale, it would be a category 1. and we're looking for it to actually intensify to a category 2, that's on the hurricane scale, by the next wednesday, thursday, the next couple of days as it heads further towards the west. now, also in the line of fire is going to be taiwan. so this system certainly going to be in our news into the weekend currently moving west at 20 kilometers an hour. the winds are sustained at 144 kilometers an hour with wind gusts now at 216.

so it is really a powerful system we're dealing with already. and as i say, it is set to intensify. so conditions in okinawa are expected to start to deteriorate really by wednesday morning. so in the next 12 hours or so. there's more heavy rain to be seen across japan. and not just here to the north, but in fact right down across the korean peninsula and into china. some places are going to see as much as 200 millimeters of rain from this rain band. it is quite an intense one. and that will be with you on into wednesday. so flooding will be a concern here, too. parts of eastern china though staying dry and hot. shanghai getting up to 38 degrees. another sweltering day on wednesday. tokyo, 34 and staying dry. 36 in chongqing. towards the north, a little bit cooler in the upper 20s there. and quite unstable. and we'll see some scattered thunderstorms down towards the south. all right, on we go into the americas. and severe storms are erupting here across the northern tier of the u.s. and into canada as

well. you can even see some tornadoes with this system. it's bringing winds of up to about 100 kilometers an hour. you could see golf ball sized hail and also some rain, heavy enough to cause flash flooding issues. so there's your severe area. and it's quite wide dipping down all the way down into kansas. much of the eastern two-thirds of the continent is going to be dealing with rain. but the central plains further down towards the south as well you've been dealing with some really extreme heat. temperatures in the mid-30s in denver, into oklahoma city as well as in houston. things are looking very hot indeed. and quite unstable too. up towards the northwest much more pleasant sunny skies and more moderate temperatures. but as we head out towards the north and east, even up in new york city 31 degrees. so pretty hot across much of the continent. we're going to head now to europe where things have been very hot here too out towards the west. that is going to change. you still have nice dry

conditions here, but temperatures are going to start to cool down to average. up towards the north we've got rain across scandinavia coming into finland and then towards the south as well you'll have these pop-up thunderstorms that come with all of that heat building up in the day. some of those could be a little bit on the severe side, too. i'll leave you with your temperatures for europe and also your extended forecast.

i'm gene otani in tokyo. i'm going to leave you with the sight of flowers that harold the arrival of summer. residents are feasting their eyes on 60,000 sunflowers in full bloom. they saw buds start to open in

late june, the sunflowers blossomed when the rainy season dried up and the heat of summer began. visitors can take in this breathtaking sight until mid july.

it's lunchtime on a nice sunny day. i bet a lot of you would eat outside for a change. but in japan, the catered bento that is eaten in the office is quite popular. take a look at these guys enjoying their catered lunch. did owe know that this bento holds a huge share in the world of lunches. it's grown to be a 575 billion yen market. >> they deliver here. my lunch break is short so it's convenient. >> price is reasonable.